Early Bird
by Irene3691
Summary: House and Cuddy talk after he tried to operate on himself to make his leg feel better. Set right after 7x22 "After Hours". "Moving On" NEVER HAPPENED. One shot!


_Hey there! It's been ages!_

_I bring you a new fanfiction. It's a one-shot I wrote a few months ago but I forgot about it until now. It's set right after last season's "After Hours" (7x22)_

_I don't remember why I wrote it, I guess I was inspired that day. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it._

_._

_In a couple of days I'll upload a new fanfiction I wrote today. I really hope you enjoy that one too :) It will make you cry._

_Let me know what you think on the comments!_

_X!_

********Enjoy****

* * *

It was late. Not late enough to see the sunset in the morning but late enough to ask for a sleeping pill, which of course he didn't.

He was alone. Wilson had left a few hours ago to let him rest but he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking over and over again of what he had done.

He was in pain. The painkillers weren't enough, but that was not the reason he was still awake.

.

He knew Cuddy and Rachel had been there some time ago. Was it in the morning? Maybe the night before? Everything was confusing. They had left a note that Wilson had read him before, and he took it to read it again. _"I hope your leg feels better and I hope we can be friends again soon, you bloody scallywag." _He smiled slightly to himself and let some time go by.

.

He woke up. Had he slept at all? He reached for his cell at the bedside table. "5:30am" He thought to himself. He wasn't feeling any better but at least he had rested a couple of hours.

He turned his head to his left and saw her figure at the door. He didn't know what to say at first. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't mean to wake you up. I was checking everything was okay on the monitors." She made a pause. "I was worried."

He kept looking at her and nodded his head slightly.

"Well, I was leaving."

She turned to walk away when he talked. "Cuddy. I'm sorry I called you." She turned to look at him.

"I'm not. I don't want you to die. Even if you risk your life way more than you should."

There was a silence and she took two steps forward. The lights were off but the moonlight coming through the window let him see her features. She looked tired. She was wearing a dark pencil skirt with jacket matching it and a light blue shirt. Her coat was still on her hand and she wasn't wearing her lab coat. She hadn't been to her office yet. Then he remembered the time. "Isn't it early for you to be here?"

"I have work to do. Hard day ahead."

He nodded slightly again. Now that she was there he was feeling a little better. She sighed and she prepared to leave again. "Can't you stay for a while?"

"House, I don't think-"

"Please." He didn't want to insist too much. She knew when he needed her and he knew that she had come early just to check on him, even if she didn't want him to know she had been there.

"Okay." She walked in, toward the armchair next to his bed and she sat on it.

"Tell your daughter thanks for the note and I hope we can be friends again too." Cuddy smiled slightly and nodded. "I'll tell her. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that." Again, a pause. "She misses you." Deep inside he hopped she wasn't just talking about her daughter.

.

They didn't say a word for a few minutes. They had that kind of relationship when they didn't need to talk to make each other feel better.

"Why did you do it?" She broke the silence. "I mean the trial, not the self-operation thing which I'm sure even you thought was stupid."

"I wanted to make my leg feel better."

"It hadn't even been tested on humans."

"Well, now it has and it doesn't work. See? It wasn't a complete waste!" He said sarcastically.

"It could have killed you!"

"But it didn't!"

"It was dangerous and pointless."

"No, it wasn't pointless." He felt offended. "What if it had worked? I wouldn't be in pain anymore."

"You found other ways to keep the pain away. You've been clean for almost two years."

"Yeah but those ways let me down not so long ago."

She clicked her tongue. "Don't blame our break up for this… If it hurts so much is because you've forced your leg to the extreme for weeks."

"Oh, really? How exactly?"

"House, you know how."

"No, I think you just assume what I've been doing all this time."

"I don't need to assume anything; you've been doing it in front of my face."

"So now everything I do is because of you? Just to screw with you?"

"Well you suddenly disappear, and you go to hookerland. You don't show up at work, you do whatever you want; you bring a monster truck to the hospital, you operate on yourself and wait, possibly more hookers at some point… I can go on if you want…"

"So that's really what you think it is…"

She chuckled slightly and looked away before looking back at him. "Oh please, don't tell me you married that… lady, less than two weeks after we broke up because you really loved her." It actually took her a while to refer to her as something appropriate.

"You didn't say anything about it at all at the time. I thought you didn't mind. And if my memory serves me correctly we didn't broke up, you broke up with me."

"You really thought I was okay with you marrying someone just to make me feel bad?" She shook her head slightly while she talked. "Or with you screwing every hooker in Princeton?

"You didn't say a word! How would I know you didn't like it? Besides, I see you haven't been watching Friends lately…"

"We weren't on a break." She replied.

"Well, exactly, we weren't together anymore. You can't complain about it, then."

"It doesn't make me feel any better."

He looked at her in the eye. "I've been a jackass and I know it, but you've hurt me so much… I don't think you've been having the time of your life either but I don't want you to feel any better."

.

Cuddy stared at him for a second before she stood up and started walking toward the door to leave the room upset. His eyes followed her. He didn't want her to leave, he actually was pleased that she was there keeping him company for a while. Damn it, he still cared about her and he had hurt her again. Suddenly he stood up of bed hurting his leg and dropping every wire attached to his body, falling into the floor calling her name. "Cuddy!"

She turned around and saw him lying on the floor. She went through the glass door to come into the room again as quickly as her high heels let her. She approached him and put his arm around her shoulders to help him stand up. "You are an idiot and you just proved it again."

She was upset but she hated seeing him hurt, either physically or emotionally. Once he was on his bed again he rubbed his leg strongly, closed his eyes tightly and moaned in pain. She put his hands away from his leg. "Stop it, you are gonna hurt yourself." She connected every wire where it was and she turned up the IV bag with his painkillers. "You'll feel better in a minute."

She waited next to him, holding his hand until he felt more relaxed.

.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'm sorry about the fight." He answered completely ignoring her question.

"We've been keeping it from happening for a long time... I think we needed it, for better or for worse." She sighed. "I'm sorry too."

.

She sat on his bed next to him. Some minutes went by and he didn't let her hand go.

"Cuddy."

"Yeah?"

"I was happy with you. Really, the happiest I've been in a long time." That made her smile slightly and he continued. " I've made a hundred mistakes and I'm fully aware. And I'll probably keep making a thousand mistakes in the future. I know there's no point in saying that I'm sorry for the ones I've made and that I'll be sorry for the ones that will come but I needed you to know that." She was about to say something but he kept talking. "Shut up, let me finish. You are one of the most important people in my life and even if we are not together or you are mad at me, I know you'll be there when I need you."

"House, you can stop. You are there for me too, I know all that."

"That's the problem. I wasn't there when you needed me, that's why you broke up with me. I don't think I understood what meant to really need someone until a couple of days ago when I almost died and you saved me again."

"You don't need to say anything, just get better. For me. And don't do anything like this again, please."

He nodded no with his head and looked at the time again. "It's 6:10am. Do you have to go?"

"I have a meeting in an hour."

"Would you stay with me for a while if I promise I won't fight?"

She looked at him smiling and nodded. He moved on bed giving her some room to lie down next to him. She lied sideways looking at him.

"You know? I really hope we can be friends again soon." He said, still holding her hand. "Maybe we can have a second chance again in the future."

"It would be the 834th you give me." He said. And they smiled.


End file.
